Miserable Depths
by Amethyst Turtle
Summary: Somewhere along the years after your death, you lost your humanity and became Murasa.


Originally written for an RP, but I figured it was long enough to pass for a fic, haha. :9

* * *

Once, a long, long, long time ago, you were brimming with excitement and anticipation. You remember running across the piers, weaving between seamen readying the ship and hauling cargo, only to be swept up in the strong arms of your father as he gently chastises you for getting in the way.

The deck rolls beneath your feet. It takes only a few minutes for you to gain your sealegs, or so you boast much to the amusement of your father and his crewmates. They all take great interest in the little deckhand who someday wants to be as strong as her father, captain of the Palanquin. You're surrounded by hearty and friendly laughter as you stumble and find your way around the ship. You'll show them! Someday, you'll be a captain as well. No, an admiral. You have such high expectations.

And then the storm hits without warning. Water rushes up to catch you in a harsh embrace, waves pounding on your head as you desperately reach for anything to grab onto to stay afloat. You're dimly aware of the rest of the crew attempting to save anything, anyone, but the storm is merciless. Where's your father?

Choking. Your lungs burn as the sea reaches down your throat, flooding your entire being. It's burning, you can't see or breathe, you reach, grab onto nothing, water gently cradling you as you sink and drown, your tears vanishing into the sea, drowning, drowning, help help **help me**-

The next time when you open your eyes, you see the wreckage of the Palanquin slowly descending into the darkness of the ocean. You look up.

Your body is floating among bits and pieces of what used to be your father's ship.

Did you cry? Did you scream? Both? You stay with your body for a long time after it sinks to the bottom of the sea, desperately clinging even as decaying flesh washes off bones and your clothes become threadbare rags. And then- it's gone, claimed by the sea.

_You are gone, claimed by the sea._

And you don't remember how or when you become consumed by your own spite, unable to stop yourself from capsizing all those vessels that pass by you. (They wouldn't help.) Bodies and wreckage sink around you, the sea- your sea- greedily swallowing them. (They were afraid.) You scream and cry and clutch your head the first few times. (What have you done? _What have you done?_) Eventually sobbing makes way for a horrible laughter that doesn't resemble at all what you used to be. (All of them, so weak!)

What pride there is to behold, when your new name reaches your ears! Did your original family name matter? Who was your father? Captain... something. A part of you wants to break down and cry- you can't even remember your father's name. But now... now, you have your own. The other part reminds you that this is what you wanted. You wanted to be powerful, to be a **legend**. Isn't it? This is exactly what you wanted. You can't be more proud.

_You become Murasa._

Such fun, destroying ships. The years pass, perhaps it was dozens, and the seabed is littered with shipwrecks: your trophies of strength and power. The humans fear you. They don't dare pass through your waters if they can help it. And yet it isn't enough.

You're still dead, aren't you? You lost everything. You'll never see your family again. Your dreams have gone to waste. Your new mother, the sea, will never release you from her heavy grip.

All that's left is to kill, kill, kill. Life is so fragile, you learn. You become so used to drowning others, it's nearly instinct at this point. What a waste of human life! As if you care; so this is what being a youkai is like. The storms you create elicit terrified screaming from the decks of ships, much to your joy. Men, women, and children are all sent into the briny grasp of your ocean. You're a murderer, a tragic spirit driven mad by spite. You're no longer Minamitsu, the girl who once wanted to be a captain just like her father who held her up in his arms, happily laughing as the breeze misted her face with seawater and she looked out towards a hopeful horizon. The horizon is obscured by storm clouds and frothing waves, now.

_You are Murasa._


End file.
